Do you focus on top-line growth when analyzing industrial companies? Given that the industrial sector is directly correlated to the strength of the economy, any improvement in the U.S. economy should trigger an improvement in the revenues for these companies.

One idea is to compare trends in revenue to trends in accounts receivable. We screened for those with negative trends in revenue relative to accounts receivable, with slower growth in revenue year-over-year than growth in accounts receivable, as well as receivables comprising a larger portion of current assets.

Receivables represent the portion of revenue not yet collected, so the smaller the portion of revenue and current assets, the better.

We were left with 6 stocks on our list.

Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in market cap over the last two years for the stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.

Do you think it's time to stay cautious of these stocks? Use the list below as a starting point for your analysis.

1. Covanta Holding Corporation (CVA): Provides waste and energy services in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Market cap at $2.52B, most recent closing price at $19.11. Revenue grew by -4.63% during the most recent quarter ($412M vs. $432M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 7.69% during the same time period ($280M vs. $260M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 31.4% to 35.44% during the most recent quarter (comparing 3 months ending 2012-09-30 to 3 months ending 2011-09-30). The company is expected to report earnings on February 6th, 2013.

2. Gorman-Rupp Co. (GRC): Designs, manufactures, and sells pumps and related fluid control products worldwide. Market cap at $632.1M, most recent closing price at $30.10. Revenue grew by 1.56% during the most recent quarter ($91.63M vs. $90.22M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 9.96% during the same time period ($60.3M vs. $54.84M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 34.48% to 37.08% during the most recent quarter (comparing 3 months ending 2012-09-30 to 3 months ending 2011-09-30). The company is expected to report earnings on February 4th, 2013.

3. Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX): Engages in manufacturing and distributing building products for new home construction, repair and remodeling, manufactured housing, and light industrial and commercial construction. Market cap at $2.7B, most recent closing price at $19.50. Revenue grew by 33.43% during the most recent quarter ($467.8M vs. $350.6M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 108.35% during the same time period ($209.6M vs. $100.6M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 14.56% to 21.76% during the most recent quarter (comparing 3 months ending 2012-09-30 to 3 months ending 2011-09-30). The company is expected to report earnings on February 8th, 2013.

4. Matrix Service Co. (MTRX): Provides construction, and repair and maintenance services primarily to the energy and energy related industries in the United States and internationally. Market cap at $371.03M, most recent closing price at $14.32. Revenue grew by 23.8% during the most recent quarter ($209.61M vs. $169.32M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 50.11% during the same time period ($156.84M vs. $104.48M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 50.65% to 58.92% during the most recent quarter (comparing 3 months ending 2012-09-30 to 3 months ending 2011-09-30). The company is expected to report earnings on February 4th, 2013.

5. Snap-on Inc. (SNA): Manufactures and markets tools, diagnostics, equipment, software, and service solutions for professional users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, China, and Sweden. Market cap at $4.75B, most recent closing price at $81.63. Revenue grew by 2.07% during the most recent quarter ($711.6M vs. $697.2M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 12.03% during the same time period ($853.7M vs. $762M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 50.02% to 52.57% during the most recent quarter (comparing 13 weeks ending 2012-09-29 to 13 weeks ending 2011-10-01). The company is expected to report earnings on February 7th, 2013.

6. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (SPR): Designs, engineers, and manufactures commercial aircraft structures worldwide. Market cap at $2.3B, most recent closing price at $15.98. Revenue grew by 20.86% during the most recent quarter ($1,365.3M vs. $1,129.7M y/y). Accounts receivable grew by 93.43% during the same time period ($644.5M vs. $333.2M y/y). Receivables, as a percentage of current assets, increased from 10.61% to 19.29% during the most recent quarter (comparing 3 months ending 2012-09-27 to 3 months ending 2011-09-29). The company is expected to report earnings on February 4th, 2013.

*By Kapitall's Sabina Bhatia. Accounting data sourced from Google Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz. Did you find this list useful as a starting point for your analysis? Do you have a list requests? Leave your comments below and we’ll do our best to deliver.​